Apartment613 » Learninghttp://apt613.ca
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:01:14 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1World Press award-winning photos capture moments of tenderness and dangerhttp://apt613.ca/world-press-award-winning-photos-capture-moments-of-tenderness-and-danger/
http://apt613.ca/world-press-award-winning-photos-capture-moments-of-tenderness-and-danger/#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 21:06:52 +0000Kenneth Ingramhttp://apt613.ca/?p=87347Award-winning images from around the world are now on display at the Canadian War Museum for a limited time, marking the eighth year that World Press Photo has chosen Ottawa as the premier Canadian location for its annual exhibition.

Second Prize Contemporary Issues Category, Stories. Photo by Tomas van Houtryve, Belgium, VII for Harper’s Magazine. El Dorado County, California, United States Students in a schoolyard. Several thousand people have been killed by covert U.S. drone strikes since 2004. The photographer bought his own drone, mounted a camera and traveled across the US looking for similar situations as mentioned in strike reports from Pakistan and Yemen, including weddings, funerals, and groups of people praying or exercising. He also flew his camera over settings in which drones are used to less lethal effect, such as prisons, oil fields and the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The images of World Press Photo 2015 were jury selected from among 98,000 entries submitted by close to 6,000 photojournalists from 131 countries,” explains Mark O’Neill, president and CEO of the Canadian War Museum.

“The exhibition really does present the finest work by many of the world’s top photographers.”

While a number of the images stem from news headlines last year such as the Ebola epidemic and Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which may have seemed like events taking place in the far corners of the globe, can be experienced up close and on a far more personal level.

The Netherlands’ ambassador to Canada, His Excellency Cees Kole, was present on opening night and called particular attention to the 2015 World Press Photo of the Year that shows a tender moment between two gay men in Russia’s St. Petersburg.

“Life for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) people is becoming increasingly difficult, not only in Russia but in many other countries as well,” says Kole.

Second Prize General News Category, Single. Photo by Massimo Sestini, Italy.7 June, off the coast of Libya. Shipwrecked people are rescued aboard a boat 20 miles north of Libya by a frigate of the Italian navy. After hundreds of men, women and children had drowned in 2013 off the coast of Sicily and Malta, the Italian government put its navy to work under a campaign called “Mare Nostrum” rescuing refugees at sea. Only in 2014, 170,081 people were rescued and taken to Italy.

“We need to defend and protect their rights. Even in a tolerant country, intolerance is an ever-present danger and we must remain awake,” he continues, adding that the photo is worth a thousand words.

“It reminds us…[of] the power of visual journalism.”

As visitors wander among the large displays, they are often given pause by the moments captured in the images. Some examples include a portrait by Lisa Krantz of Amorie West, dressed as a disco girl for a Halloween party, as well as Gianfranco Tripodo’s image of a migrant hiding under a vehicle to avoid capture.

“Many of these photos around us are taken by brave photographers under dangerous conditions,” says Noortje Gorter, a representative and curator for World Press Photo.

“Through their efforts, we can witness situations, events, and places that we would have never have seen otherwise.”

Second Prize Daily Life Category, Singles. Photo by Åsa Sjöström, Sweden, Moment Agency / INSTITUTE for Socionomen / UNICEF.Baroncea, Moldova. Igor hands out chocolates to a classmate to celebrate his ninth birthday. When he and his twin brother Arthur were two years old, their mother traveled to Moscow to work in the construction field and later died. They have no father. They are among thousands of children growing up without their parents in the Moldovan countryside. Young people have fled the country, leaving a dwindling elderly population and young children.

She explains that the judges for World Press Photo are different each year and they are brought to Amsterdam, where World Press Photo was founded in 1955, to evaluate nearly 100,000 photo entries over a period of two weeks.

Apt613: Is there a photo from this year’s exhibition that connected with you personally?

Gorter: “That’s a difficult question because there are so many striking images.

For us, at World Press Photo, what’s really special this year is a new category and it’s called Long Term Projects. It’s a new place in our contest for photographers who are working on documentary photography.

She points to black and white images by Darcy Padilla that are from The Julie Project, a collection that tells the story of Julie through drug addiction, birth, death, and reunion.

“She’s worked on this project for 20 years and I think it’s really, really special. And it’s special that we have a place in our contest to accommodate [projects like this]. So for me, the long term project is very special.”

Do you have any advice for first-time visitors?

“Yes! Definitely! Bring your smart phone. We have a tap and scan for Androids and iPhones so if you can bring it, you can find more information on the image [such as] you can hear the photographer talking about the image…you can also learn more background about the camera used, information on the country where the image was taken… so it’s not just about the image you see. It will open a lot of worlds.”

World Press Photo 2015 marks the 58th World Press Photo contest. You can see all the winners of the 2015 contest here.

The exhibition is located at the Canadian War Museum inside the Barney Danson Theatre from July 23rd to August 19th. Admission is free. Warning: World Press Photo 15 contains graphic images of nudity, violence, suffering, and death. It is strongly recommended that adults accompany and supervise children while visiting the exhibition.

]]>http://apt613.ca/world-press-award-winning-photos-capture-moments-of-tenderness-and-danger/feed/0Streetscape Memory Bank: the “old-world grandeur” of a lost Rideau St. institutionhttp://apt613.ca/streetscape-memory-bank-the-old-world-grandeur-of-a-lost-rideau-st-institution-2/
http://apt613.ca/streetscape-memory-bank-the-old-world-grandeur-of-a-lost-rideau-st-institution-2/#commentsWed, 22 Jul 2015 20:18:56 +0000Andrew Elliotthttp://apt613.ca/?p=86718One place that evokes fond memories of Ottawa’s past shopping fortunes is the old Charles Ogilvy Ltd. store (or Ogilvys) on Rideau Street.I am just old enough to remember how the Ogilvys was in its last days in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Even then, it was a place of old world grandeur and charm. I still remember the immaculately dressed elevator operators who wore white gloves, who would open the old grilled elevator doors and then take you clanking up or down to the various floor departments : I, of course, loved spending time in the children’s department on the third floor. I also remember the famous “tartan boxes” that were decorated with the Ogilvy hunting tartan.

I also remember that Ogilvys was a place where the staff knew my parents and grandparents by name, and it was a place where patrons came to visit with other patrons, sometimes in the basement cafeteria. In fact, for decades, this was one of Ottawa’s downtown de facto community centres. Both building and business were distinctive, and were a key retail anchor for the Rideau streetscape. One of the tallest buildings on the generally low-rise and heavily commercial Rideau, it was an icon of Ottawa shopping. It also worth noting that while Ogilvy’s was the anchor, it helped contribute to a rich commercial streetscape, as seen here in this 1910 shot looking east, and these late 1930s shots showing Rideau at the key intersection with Dalhousie.

The building evolved over time, adapting to the needs of owner Charles Ogilvy and his patrons. Mr. Ogilvy was an enterprising businessman who had set up his business in 1887 in a small commercial building in a spot now occupied by the Rideau Centre. In 1906, when he was long established in the Ottawa community, he decided to commission the rising architectural star W.E. Noffke and his partner George William Northwood to design a new commercial abuilding, which would be built at the key corner location of Rideau and Nicholas Streets. Noffke and Northwood designed a flat-roofed building that, while only 3 storeys, intended to stun any passerby with its streamlined beauty.

Ogilvy’s as envisioned in the Ottawa Journal, in May 1906

It was one of the first steel and concrete structures in Ottawa, and this allowed for a significant increase in floor space. It also allowed for an unbroken front and side show window, supported by steel framework, and occupied half a block on a corner, with five bays facing Rideau and 7 bays facing Nicholas. As architectural historian Ken Elder has written: “The style of the building was Classic, with simple Grecian effects, harmonizing with the principal design and imparting a solid yet pleasing appearance.” Other architectural features of interest included buff-coloured (or terra-cotta) brick with sandstone trimmings, the use of the Greek key motif on the spandrel panels and secondary cornice, the metal cornice, the wood-framed windows, the “Tree of Life” panels and the distinctive rounded northeast corner.

Yet Ogilvy’s evolved as a building over the years, and was designed initially to take on new changes gracefully. So the initial structure was built with the intent to carry the weight of future additional floors. So in 1917, it was extended back eight more bays to Besserer Street, also following plans by architect Noffke. The fourth and fifth floors, designed by Ottawa architect A.J. Hazelgrove, were added in 1931 and 1933 respectively. The addition of the top two storeys and the resulting removal of the original third floor cornice transformed Ogilvy’s from a conservative design to a modern design more typical of 1930s commercial architecture.

Ogilvy’s in early 1939, all decked out for the visit from the King and Queen. Image from LAC.

At the height of the Depression, the place continued to prosper, and by the late 1930s featured an impressive workforce of nearly 300 employees. You can learn what each floor looked like from the 1930s onwards at the Department Store Musuem.

Charles Ogilvy was known as an innovative and ethical businessman. His 1950 obituary in the Ottawa Journal notes that “business was his hobby as well as his life work”; he also had “a broad humanity and constant willingness to aid the less fortunate” which was reflected by his many years on the board of the Union Mission for Men. While “he entered the mercantile trade on Rideau Street as an office boy at the age of 14″ and worked long hours, from 8 am to 8 pm, he was one of the first Ottawa businessmen to reduce the working hours of his employees to a schedule of 9 to 530. Employees were granted shares in the company, and the motto he chose was “Good Merchandise, at a fair price, with service”. A interesting detail from the obituary is that he was a big walker in his youth, and once walked all the way from his home in Sandy Hill to Kingsmere in the Gatineau, had a swim in Kingsmere lake, then walked back to Sandy Hill later in the afternoon!

Charles Ogilvy in 1901. Image from LAC.

Ogilvy wanted his store to be a meeting place where all would feel welcome: the interior of the store was a place filled with high ceilings, suspended lamps, checkered floors, and glass shop fittings. The store sold everything, and while it might have been the “Ikea of the day” (as the Ottawa Citizen’s Maria Cook has said), it certainly was far more elegant. A store procedure guide stated of customers: “a customer is the most important person ever to enter our store. We are not doing him a favour by serving him – he is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.” A former vice president recently recalled that all staff were like family and treated with respect. It is a credit to Ogilvy’s ethical and philanthropical interests that many business owners who were in direct competition with Ogilvy placed large ads of respectful condolence in Ottawa newspapers upon his death in 1950.

It is worth noting that the success of Ogilvy’s allowed for other local department stores to thrive: places such as Freimans, Devlins, Murphy-Gamble and Caplan’s. As such, the expansion of national chains (including Eaton’s, Simpson’s, Simpsons-Sears and The Bay) was kept at bay until well into the 1950s.

Fast forward from the 1930s to the 1950s (see 1943 advertisement and 1950s Rideau Street) to the 1980s and on to the current era, through decades when Ottawa’s independent department stores prospered, then declined, and then almost disappeared, we find that the spirit of the old Ogilvy’s building is still alive.

Much has been written about the building over the past few years. In fact, now long after the business closed, and now that the original building has been demolished, it even has its own commemorative Facebook page For the past 25 years, the building stood sadly empty, an awful case of demolition by neglect. It waited for Rideau Centre expansion plans to come to fruition. Then– although it was a designated heritage building– city council voted to allow it to be demolished in 2013; but with the caveat that a rebuilt new structure – which will incorporate a new Simon’s department store – should use the original bricks and follow the design of the earliest architectural rendition of the structure. When other cities have given up on the practice of saving historic facades, why do we cling to it as a practice? Is this historical re-creationism? Is the rebuilt “new-old” facade really heritage anymore? On the other hand, maybe the introduction of a new well-established department store will lead to a shopping renaissance.

Is this renaissance enough to recapture the spirit of the old Rideau Street? I’m uncertain. Much of the low-rise pedestrian friendly stores have been replaced by faceless multi storey condo towers, especially in the stretch from Nicholas to King Edward. City planners could have thought more about tapping into Rideau Street’s old commercial pulse and should have encouraged developers to build a more lower-rise mixture of residential and commercial, and should have done more to plant more trees and flowers. What they needed was more of the human touch, and in that they could have looked no further than the past successes of Charles Ogilvy Ltd.

]]>http://apt613.ca/streetscape-memory-bank-the-old-world-grandeur-of-a-lost-rideau-st-institution-2/feed/1Five surprising facts we learned on the Ottawa Free Tourhttp://apt613.ca/five-surprising-facts-we-learned-on-the-ottawa-free-tour/
http://apt613.ca/five-surprising-facts-we-learned-on-the-ottawa-free-tour/#commentsWed, 15 Jul 2015 16:45:06 +0000Hollie Davieshttp://apt613.ca/?p=87201When I was invited to tag along on The Ottawa Free Tour, a new activity on offer, I didn’t have to think it over much – they had me at “free”. With scarcely anything in life that doesn’t put a dent in my bank account, I’m clearly going to jump at anything that costs nothing. And I’m sure glad that I did. It’s a 2-hour walking tour that takes place every Saturday (May 2-Sept 5) at 2 p.m. I met up with our expert guide, and the rest of the group, at the War Memorial, knowing only that we were going to be learning about political assassinations, the construction of a UNESCO world heritage site, and past Prime Ministers, among other things. Considering I’m super uninformed about history AND politics, this seemed like the right kind of tour to freshen up my knowledge about what’s happened where I live.

Right off the bat, it’s obvious that this tour isn’t typical – it’s very informative of course, but also equally chill, with the guides making seemingly boring subjects actually quite fun and exciting to learn about. It starts off with the changing of the guards at the National War Memorial – that tall, granite, memorial arch with bronze sculptures downtown. It was originally built to commemorate the Canadians who died in the First World War, but was rededicated to also include those killed in the Second World War, Korean War, Second Boer War, and War in Afghanistan, as well as all Canadians killed in conflicts past and future.

Did you know: in 2000, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was added in front of the memorial and symbolizes the sacrifices made by all Canadians who have died or may yet die for their country.

We then walked a few steps over to where the only Canadian politician to ever be assassinated was gunned down, although the circumstances surrounding this controversy are fuzzy. I won’t give everything away, but we were swept back in time, everything having played out where we now stood almost 150 years later.

Did you know: Terry Fox ran down Sparks Street in 1980.

We walked along the beautiful and historic Sparks St. until we came out in full view of the Parliament Buildings. Of course there’s a Canadian flag flying high, but this flag is replaced by a brand new one every single day, and the old ones are given away to those who sign up for a waiting list that is currently 54 years long.

Did you know: the Prime Minister spends most of his time in the Langevin Block, across from Parliament Hill.

We walked some more, and learned that the paths of the Rideau Canal used to be train tracks, with the current Government Conference Centre having served as Union Station.

Did you know: Charles Melville Hays, president of the Grand Trunk train company, perished on the ill-fated Titanic.

We’re all aware that Ottawa is known for it’s long, long skating rink, or the Rideau Canal, which was registered as a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2007. It officially opened in 1832, but its construction took six long years.

Did you know: malaria killed around 1000 of the people who worked on building the Canal.

We made our way from Uppertown to Lowertown, stopping for a break at Planet Coffee, and ended up at a beautiful lookout that I didn’t even know existed, behind the National Art Gallery. It was surely a fantastic summary of our city’s long and, as I now know, intriguing history. My hat goes off to this new endeavour and I can only foresee people from around the world soaking in Ottawa and everything that made us who we are today.

You can learn more about the Ottawa Free Tour here. This 2-hour walking tour takes place every Saturday at 2 p.m., from May 2nd to September 5th. It is absolutely free, but an RSVP is required.

]]>http://apt613.ca/five-surprising-facts-we-learned-on-the-ottawa-free-tour/feed/2Ottawa City Woodshop inspired by Ottawa’s lumber town legacyhttp://apt613.ca/ottawa-city-woodshop-inspired-by-ottawas-lumber-town-legacy/
http://apt613.ca/ottawa-city-woodshop-inspired-by-ottawas-lumber-town-legacy/#commentsTue, 30 Jun 2015 12:46:21 +0000Ryan Saxby Hillhttp://apt613.ca/?p=86776Are you longing for the smell of sawdust and the sounds of a drill press, but worried that your one-bedroom-plus-den rental may not be the best home to re-start that woodworking project? The Ottawa City Woodshop launched last month and has been quickly attracting interest from members. You can join the woodshop with a monthly fee and get access to the space and discounts on courses. They have intro classes starting in both July and August for the uninitiated to ease their way into the joys of woodworking.

We caught up with one of the founders of the woodshop, Mike Grigoriey to find out how things were going and some of the reasons why he thinks woodworking is a good next frontier for shared maker-spaces.

Apt613: What was the motivation for creating the Ottawa City Woodshop?

Mike Grigoriev:Motivation initially came from a real need for access to tools and space, as well as a desire to make woodworking accessible to people. Woodworking wasn’t really possible for anyone living in the city and since it wasn’t on the radar for any current or proposed maker spaces it was something we felt we needed to take on. Culturally it was the right time to do something like this and we knew there was enough interest from current and future woodworkers wanting opportunities for space, education and community building. Once we started learning more about Ottawa’s incredible history as a lumber town (one of the largest industrial operations in the world!) we knew this was something that meant a lot to us and we needed to act.

Apt613: The greater acceptance we’re seeing for the sharing economy and the maker culture must be part of what’s making this project possible. What are the larger trends in shared spaces, DIY, maker spaces or other more global movements that your project is speaking to?

MG: Culturally, I believe we are seeing somewhat of a renaissance for a desire to create things ourselves and be more self-sufficient. That directly influences a growing appreciation for local, hand-made quality goods and authenticity. People want to use their hands again, and they want to have a bigger say in the products they buy and the objects they use.

The Ottawa City Woodshop strikes a chord with people because of the focus on craftsmanship, local manufacturing and enabling people to create things on their own. While it shares values with these growing sharing and maker trends, in our case, we see a lot of value beyond the obvious that comes from sharing tools and space. By having some of the city’s best woodworkers educate and inspire others about the craft, we hope that the emerging community and learning will make the OCW not just the practical home but the cultural home for woodworking in the city and beyond.

Apt613: What do you need now to make this a success?

MG: While we’ve seen a lot of early interest through workshop and membership sales as well as support from many local organizations, we definitely have some things we need to work on to help the OCW realize its full potential.

Firstly, while we’re a fully functional shop with some good pieces, we would love to increase the number and quality of available tools and machinery. We’re always looking to upgrade what we have or bring in some great pieces so we’re actively exploring sponsorship and donation opportunities.

Secondly, for the OCW to maximize its impact, we need the core community to grow. This includes continuing to build a strong initial core of founding members that support the idea, are eager to use the space and want to contribute to the bigger picture of making woodworking accessible in the city. It also means uncovering and reaching out to different woodworkers doing great things who could potentially teach others. Courses are a big component of what we’re offering and we want to have a great diversity of available education.

Apt613: Why do you think this project will resonate for Ottawa’s DIY community?

MG: While the term DIY often has connotations for renovations around the home, we think that our dedication to the craft of woodworking and high quality workmanship using sustainable local materials will definitely resonate with those interested in using their hands and building things.

By having one of Canada’s top woodworking instructors – Vic Tesolin – help develop our education curriculum, we’re seeing that the mix of project and skill based courses are enabling people to get involved with woodworking for the very first time, or sharpen their existing skills and knowledge. When paired with this city’s history, we think that an easily accessible urban woodshop offering space, tools, and education will interest many in town.

The Ottawa City Woodshop is located at the City Centre building, above Art is In Bakery. They are open evenings and weekends. Memberships are $120 a month, with discounts available for longer commitments. All the details are online at ottawacitywoodshop.com.

]]>http://apt613.ca/ottawa-city-woodshop-inspired-by-ottawas-lumber-town-legacy/feed/0BSOMA teaches photographers the tools of the tradehttp://apt613.ca/bluesfest-school-of-music-art-teaches-photographers-the-tools-of-the-trade/
http://apt613.ca/bluesfest-school-of-music-art-teaches-photographers-the-tools-of-the-trade/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 20:00:17 +0000Jean McLernonhttp://apt613.ca/?p=86676Bluesfest School of Art and Music has been making strides lately when it comes to providing workshops on teachable skills for the community. In the past, they’ve worked together with artists, bands and festivals to put on seminars that cover everything from releasing an album to acquiring sponsorship. Their most recent workshop is festival-focused with a specification in photography, titled RBC Bluesfest Concert Photography. The workshop is led by in-house Bluesfest photographers Mark Horton and Marc DesRosiers, and was launched as a pilot project last year with great results, including student Rohit Saxena’s iconic shot of Vintage Trouble (above).

Both Horton and DesRosiers have always attracted a lot of attention from photographers who had a specific interest in festivals. “If I had a dollar for every photographer friend of mine who volunteered to be my “assistant” during music festival season,” Horton says, “People are curious about it as a speciality, and with our relationship with Bluesfest we saw an opportunity to pull back those curtains a bit for a few people every year.”

In order to get a media pass to shoot the event, photographers must gain media accreditation, which typically involves providing some sort of portfolio of previous work. This weeds out the novices and paves the way for the pros, but there are still some common mistakes they see being made. “Newbies tend to park right in the center of the stage and shoot without changing the angle or perspective.” Hortons says, “We also have an etiquette or ‘code’ if you will; we all want the great shot, but need to share the great spots in the pit so everyone gets a chance to get the great shot.” Little tricks like these are the reason Horton and DesRosiers put the workshop together. Tiny tweaks to a photographer’s routine can help them get the shots they want.

Preparing them to work cooperatively with their peers is one aspect of the workshop, but another important one is how to work with performers. Photographers rarely work directly with the artist, so their cooperation can be varied. “They all want to look their best, and I try to never publish shots that aren’t flattering. We’re not paparazzi, we really are a cog in the PR wheel for the artists.” Horton says, “Some acts are very generous and love the camera, others see it as a nuisance and that shows in the pictures. KISS is infamous for being fantastic to photographers and playing to everyone’s camera so everyone gets that awesome KISS shot!”

The workshop takes place over four days, June 29/30th and July 12/13th. The reason for the division of dates is to divide the focus over the four days and include some applicable experience towards the end. “We spend two evenings at BSOMA and we talk about equipment, settings, exposure, lighting, composition, editing, publication and marketing, accreditation – everything you may need to know.” Horton says, “We then spend the first Sunday of Bluesfest (July 12) onsite with access to the Monster stage, and other stages and artists that the Bluesfest media people can swing for us.” The participants of the workshop get to act like it’s an actual assignment, but Horton and DesRosiers remain onsite in case they have any questions. “The following evening (July 13) we meet up at BSOMA again with a guest judge and we have a look at everyone’s best work, and maybe offer a few more tips on editing and presentation.” Horton says, “Then everyone’s best shot from the workshop is printed in large format and we exhibit them at the festival on the second weekend of Bluesfest!”

“It’s a mysterious genre of photography that has a lot of restrictions.” Horton says of festival photography, “The most challenging aspect is lighting with moving subjects in a limited time.” They recommend anyone looking to sign up for the workshop have a sound understanding of lighting and exposure, specifically when operating DSLR cameras in Manual mode. “And backpacks!” Horton adds, “Please NEVER bring a giant backpack into the pit with you!”

]]>http://apt613.ca/bluesfest-school-of-music-art-teaches-photographers-the-tools-of-the-trade/feed/0Five Things I Learned at the Ottawa International Music Conferencehttp://apt613.ca/five-things-i-learned-at-the-ottawa-international-music-conference/
http://apt613.ca/five-things-i-learned-at-the-ottawa-international-music-conference/#commentsMon, 08 Jun 2015 15:00:31 +0000Jean McLernonhttp://apt613.ca/?p=85130The first Ottawa International Music Conference was held recently at Maker Space North. The Conference featured international artists and panelists, who shared their knowledge with a room full of industry hopefuls. The three day event was successful, both in attendance and information obtained by attendees. The panels ranged from how to turn music into a business, to festival programming, to the changing landscape of parties. In case you missed the conference, I’ve broken down the 5 things I learned at OIMC:

1. Know your audience and play to it.

If you’re a musician, you need to know who you’re playing to. Who are the people you’re looking to interact with? If they’re fans of yours, what sets them apart from every other band or label’s fans? By knowing your audience you’re creating a connection with them on a deeper level that says ‘I get you’. Think Juggalos, but without the violence (or with it, if that’s your fans’ thing). Everything from the venues you play at to the artists on your label is driven by fans searching for something to engage them, and once you find it, you secure a loyal following. Venues, festivals and promoters are all also looking for a demographic to engage, and finding out key details and capitalizing on them can work heavily in your favour with return business. Social media is an incredible tool for this, which brings me to:

2. Social Media is a necessary evil.

There’s no escaping it. Social media is one of the best ways for artists, labels and agents to connect to and engage with a large audience. For artists, you’re ensuring your fans are keeping you in the forefront of their minds when you engage them via the social media they’re already constantly checking. Album updates, fun contests for tickets to shows or just information about what you’re up to means that they’ll never miss a chance to support your music. Labels can share upcoming album releases and industry updates, which is both useful for artists to have help with promotion and lucrative for a label when that fan base buys music.

Sometimes it can feel like posting events to Facebook or putting anything on social media is like throwing content into a void, immediately swallowed by all of the other information on the web. Even with so many other competing events and content out there, you’re still reaching an audience that may seek out that information after its initial release. The public will still be able to revisit your content after the fact if it’s online, but might not seek it out if it isn’t as accessible. Information is resourceful for the public when you’re trying to engage them, and for yourself when you’re unsure what direction to take your next step. A helpful thing to keep in mind would be:

3. Ask questions, whenever you can.

One of the biggest things the panelists pointed out was the lack of questions that were asked. An example was when people are filling out grants and having difficulty with the steps, the common theme seems to be trial and error rather than a phone call to the source. Grant offices are happy to answer any questions applicants have, and this theme extends to the rest of the industry when it comes to being unsure what to do next.

Even those who are successful seem to shy away from feedback. “What surprises me the most is when people don’t call to ask how they did after receiving a grant,” representatives of the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts had said during the panel on Grants for Professional Artists.

It never hurts to find out what you did wrong, and even more importantly what you did right. Call up the grant office and ask how you can be the most successful. Ask an ex-club-owner what made their business sink or swim, and what they would have done differently. Ask another artist what producer they used and why they decided to go with them. The majority of the time they don’t mind being asked and you could save yourself valuable time and potentially money. The OIMC was a fantastic opportunity for people in all aspects of the industry to ask questions and make connection for future resources, but few people really took advantage. This made me realize #4, which is:

4. Resources like Megaphono and OIMC are greatly underappreciated.

The panelists alone were worth the daily charge. They brought in industry experts from all over including club owners, music publications and curators to share their knowledge on things like creating your own business in the industry and how to stay on top of a business that is ever-changing. To hear any of this outside of a music conference could very well require a consulting fee, so to be able to take this all in throughout a weekend is incredible. As mentioned above, not nearly enough questions are asked of people who want to see this business succeed. This made me think:

5. Music can be a career…

…But it takes dedication. Making your way in the music industry is a labor of love, and often not financially lucrative. However, that does not mean is can’t be financially lucrative. Musicians can take on a variety of side jobs aside from making and recording music that can turn into incredibly beneficial careers, both financially and musically. Teaching lessons, sound engineering and producing or even being a session musician for other bands are all great ways to expand you skills and bank account. There are also grants for artists, both musical and otherwise, that can be obtained to pay your expenses while you develop your craft.

Those who seek a different approach to the industry, like venue owners, promoters, writers and festival owners also had a variety of panels at their fingertips for tips on how to grow your business in any direction. Venue owners have to deal with an ever-changing industry, but get the opportunity to showcase something amazing and help musicians get their music out there. Writers endure an arms race for digital content and a dying age of print publication, but get to be a part of something great while also expanding their music collection. Festival owners must dedicate a years work building up to a festival, but get to seek out amazing programming for their audiences while getting to exhibit great live music.

Tying the things I learned at OIMC together I realized everyone can be as successful as they want as long as they know what they want, are willing to find out how to get it and having the commitment to put the work in. A lot of the panelists did not pull punches when it came to realistic expectations for the work involved in anything they had obtained, but still loved what they did. You can too, whether you’re a musician or otherwise involved in the industry. The resources for success are out there, so stay tuned to OIMC for the opportunity to capitalize on them.

]]>http://apt613.ca/five-things-i-learned-at-the-ottawa-international-music-conference/feed/0Streetscape Memory Bank: Levine’s long lost Lowertown rememberedhttp://apt613.ca/streetscape-memory-bank-levines-long-lost-lowertown-remembered/
http://apt613.ca/streetscape-memory-bank-levines-long-lost-lowertown-remembered/#commentsFri, 29 May 2015 18:08:50 +0000Andrew Elliotthttp://apt613.ca/?p=84431While casting about for an idea for a story about Ottawa’s Lowertown, I was struck by how much the the changes to the area have been documented over the past fifty years. Various blogs (Urbsite and Ottawa Past and Present) and organizations (Lowertown Community Association and King Edward Avenue Task Force) have all done a good job of showing us that the past fifty years have not been kind to Lowertown, particularly from King Edward to Cobourg Street.

What else was there to say? The main story is quite clear and simple: the intended 1960s and 1970s neighbourhood “renewal” has done the reverse. What was once a vibrant, beautiful area has declined into a desiccated, blighted landscape crisscrossed by semi expressways. It is hard to grasp now what Lowertown was really like before the urban planners and social engineers decided upon near wholesale demolition and reconstruction of entire blocks of streets. What was the experience of living in Lowertown really like?

I had nearly given up hope of delving into true Lowertown life when I stumbled across the writings of Norman Levine. Who is Norman Levine, you may ask? Levine is one of Ottawa’s most celebrated forgotten authors. Born in Minsk, Poland in 1923, his family chose to live in Ottawa to escape antisemitism in the early 1930s. He left Ottawa during the Second World War, and eventually settled in St. Ives, Cornwall. He became a writer of terse but visual prose. From the late 1940s to the late 1990s, Levine published nine collections of short stories.

As the Guardian wrote upon his death in 2005, the 1958 travel book Canada Made Me was described by Robertson Davies as dealing with the country “in terms of provincialism, vulgarity and crushed hopes”, and provoked such hostility in Canada that a critic urged readers to stick pins in Levine voodoo dolls. Only 500 copies of the first edition were distributed. Although he lived abroad, Levine came back to visit Ottawa often.

Levine’s formative years in the 1930s and 1940s on Lowertown’s streets were emblazoned on his memory. He circles round and round the subject of what Lowertown was like, saying: “Now that most of the fruit and rag pedlars are dead and Lower Town has changed—I find I am unable to stay away from it. It’s become like a magnet. Whenever I can, I return.”

From Levine’s descriptions, we learn of an area at once both desperate and more vibrant than now.

Here’s what a typical street would have looked like in the late 1930s, as seen in photos taken by the Department of Public Works, as part of their photographic survey for Jacques Greber (left) and a typical corner store (right):

Here’s a bird’s eye view of the neighbourhood, as seen in the late 1960s courtesy of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC):

In various reports, Levine provides us with vivid glimpses into a colourful way of life that is no longer a part of Ottawa. From his book, Canada Made Me, he writes: “As a child and young man, Murray Street was home. Not the entire street, but the one block next to Angelsea Square, where most of the fruit and vegetable and rag pedlars of Ottawa lived. It cuts right through Lowertown. At one end is Angelsea Square (a treeless, grass less, dusty playground); the Bishops Palace with the young priests pacing up and down on the stone porch…at the other end of the street, past the Synagogue, the Boulevard, are the wooden shacks, the poor French, the rough taverns.”

Here’s what Murray Street looked like in 1930:

Writing in the 1959 essay, “Ottawa Childhood,” Levine says that on one block of Murray Street, everyone was Jewish. He tells us that in order to get by, people turned to selling things from horse drawn wagons: “the fruit peddler enjoyed a higher status than the rags. They were younger men and more gregarious. They had built up a business…The rag peddlers were less given to high jinks. They sat on their drab wagons and worn out horses riding slowly through the streets.”

Levine says the first street his family lived on was St. Joseph, and they were “entirely surrounded by French Canadians.” Another street they lived on was Guigues, in a large three storey brick house on the corner with King Edward. Here’s what Guigues and King Edward looked like in 1938:

Again, he writes: “These three moves were a short distance above or below St. Patrick Street. To walk them all would take about ten minutes.”

He notes that St. Patrick was one of the “main streets of Lowertown. It had Streetcars; wooden telegraph poles; various small stores mostly French; wooden and brick houses; churches; barbershops; funeral parlours and garages. It was also a recognized social division.” Here’s St. Patrick street, as seen in 1938:

Here’s the same street, looking not much different in these shots from the CMHC in 1968:

From a 1962 piece published in The Spectator newspaper, entitled “Lower Town,” Levine walks the streets of his childhood, and mixes past and present in evocative fashion:

“Some corner houses had in their front rooms a grocery, a tailor, a laundry, a barber shop, Chez Maurice (`no free reading’). While in the back, behind the curtain, lived the family. You could tell these houses by the tin signs nailed to their sides or hanging on a piece of iron, creaking in the wind, giving the name of the owner and advertising Pepsi-Cola, Sweet Caporal, Alouette, Kik. Most of the signs were in French.” The CMHC has an image of what some of these typical businesses would have looked like:

In Levine’s 1973 essay entitled “In Lower Town,” he notes that his father only spoke a few words of English and French. He would take his wagon to sell fruit across the canal in the wealthier Centretown. When Levine was 12, he helped his father with the work: “When school finished at the end of June, I left the house early in the morning and walked to the market and helped him load the wagon with the fruit and vegetables that he bought from the farmers and the wholesale stores. Then we went out—the white horse pulling the high red wagon, over Rideau, along Nicholas Street, by the jail, over Laurier Bridge and across the Rideau Canal, to the first street with my father’s customers—Gloucester.”

The changes wrought to Lowertown between 1968 and 1973 did not go unnoticed by Levine. And Levine’s indictment of these changes is harsh, as stated in an interview with the Ottawa Journal on September 1, 1970. He notes: “My Ottawa really is dead. A place doesn’t mean much unless its invested with people.” Of the Ottawa of his youth, he says: “It was a hard life. People really worked and got old before their time. But we had a sense of community.” He said that it was a place where you could belong to a neighbourhood, and know your neighbours: “That memory is what sustains me.” (An excellent record of these changes can be found within an incredible new photographic database maintained by the CMHC – a portion of the database can be viewed more easily here.

Old Lowertown way of life was an essential part of the fabric of Ottawa – and it is now long gone. It has been replaced with an incredible emptiness. This feeling is what struck me most when I walked down Old St. Patrick Street and Murray Street on a recent sunny May day. These streets were deserted, the “new” replacement houses from the early 1970s aging less confidently than their few remaining late 19th cousins. To a visitor used to the welcoming, bustling atmosphere of the nearby Market and Lowertown West, Lowertown East comes as a shock, and the emptiness seems to shout: This is no place to visit, we don’t want you here!

What will it take to fix Lowertown East’s broken streetscapes? Is it too late to turn things around and bring back a sustainable, vibrant community?

Next Time: A look at Rideau Street and the Market.

]]>http://apt613.ca/streetscape-memory-bank-levines-long-lost-lowertown-remembered/feed/2Weekend Roundup: Quoi faire ce long weekend?http://apt613.ca/weekend-roundup-quoi-faire-ce-long-weekend/
http://apt613.ca/weekend-roundup-quoi-faire-ce-long-weekend/#commentsThu, 14 May 2015 19:30:44 +0000Jean McLernonhttp://apt613.ca/?p=83996This weekend begins the tours and outdoor events that will last the rest of the summer. Music in the park, tours around monuments and of course more music! All weekend long, Decipher is holding their Everyday is Halloween Pop-up Shop full of punk, derby and psychobilly gear. If you love Hot topic, make sure to check out this amazing pop-up shop located in Westboro.

Friday night, Jackpine continues their Shoufen series featuring digital media artists giving talks about their work and impact. This week showcases Kevin Yuen-Kit Lo, a Montreal-based graphic designer who runs Loki Design studio, Four Minutes to Midnight zine and founding member of Howl Arts Collective. The engaging discussion starts at 7pm and free beer and refreshments on hand. At 8pm, Ottawa Showbox presents locals Gold & Marrow with The Almighty Rhombus visiting from Sudbury at Pressed.

If rock/pop isn’t your thing, check out Showbox’s other show at Mugshots featuring Kurvi Tasch, Bonnie Doon and CTZNSHP for some surf/ post-punk noise. Alexandra will be releasing her debut album Lucid Dreaming this Friday at Zaphod’s alongside Waxing Moon and Tina Wallace. Sante Restaurant is having their Vinyl Friday’s record swap. Come swap vinyls and partake in a 4 course meal impressively prepared by Chef Justin Scott. PTS, the local GLBTQ centre is holding GLITTERBOMB, a fundraiser where you can celebrate unique identities and the queer community with some sparkly, good-natured fun.

Ottawa Free Tour is meeting at The National War Memorial this Saturday at 2pm. Enjoy a free walking tour of downtown Ottawa while brushing up on this town’s history. Busy this weekend? They’re doing it every week until Sept. 5. The Heavy Medicine Band plays The Record Centre Saturday evening for their continuing matinee-style concert series. Heavy Medicine has edge and charisma that are unprecedented. They give a truly captivating performance, so make sure to check it out if you’ve never heard them play. Afterwards, Debaser and House of Common have H de Hertz, Technical Kidman and Black Givre for a pay what you can event with $5 suggestion. If you’ve never been to House of Common before, its located off the street in the back lot of the property. Also on Saturday night, Pocket Writer performs his inaugural show at Pressed.

On Sunday, MEC is holding Bikefest 2015. Kick off the cycling season with a free group ride. Later, participate in the gear swap, take a clinic on bike repair or meet fellow commuters at this all day event. Ottawa’s finest Latin-American women are speaking at Your Tool for Empowerment, a single day seminar with a focus on accelerating women in leadership roles.

]]>http://apt613.ca/weekend-roundup-quoi-faire-ce-long-weekend/feed/0Breaking the Code: A look into life of Alan Turing + chance to see Enigma machine up closehttp://apt613.ca/breaking-the-code-a-look-into-life-of-alan-turing-chance-to-see-enigma-machine-up-close/
http://apt613.ca/breaking-the-code-a-look-into-life-of-alan-turing-chance-to-see-enigma-machine-up-close/#commentsThu, 14 May 2015 16:00:27 +0000Chrissy Steinbockhttp://apt613.ca/?p=82869Last year the highly popular movie The Imitation Game introduced the masses to the story of Alan Turing and his work cracking the Nazis’ “unbreakable” Enigma code in WWII. It was estimated that cracking Enigma shortened the war in Europe by two years. But Hollywood demands nonstop edge of your seat excitement and sometimes, especially when the subject is the tedious work of code breaking, that kind of mass appeal comes at the cost of historical accuracy. That’s where the theatre comes in. Director Klass van Weringh has brought Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code to the Ottawa Little Theatre in what promises to be a more truthful look at the life of brilliant mathematician, code breaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing.

On a few nights of the run there will also be s a special opportunity to see a genuine Enigma – the machine used by the Germans to encrypt the Enigma code – and to hear it explained by its owner Richard Brisson, a cryptography expert and collector of code making/breaking artefacts, who himself is a retired code maker/breaker.

Brisson kindly invited me for a tour of his cryptography and espionage collection, where I got to spend a few hours learning the history of cryptography and clandestine tradecraft. It was a trip into another world, where cameras are hidden in lighters, wristwatches are actually microphones, and maps are printed on silk to be easily concealed. Then we reached the Enigma machines. Brisson tells me how confident the Germans were in the security of the Enigma’s design. At one point in the war they noticed, “’Well, the British seem to be luckier than not’ so they looked at the design of this (the machine). Doenitz who was in charge of the navy asked his cryptographers, ‘are you guys sure that enigma can’t be broken?’ After a couple of days they came back and said ‘totally impossible.’ They dismissed it and other things, informants, spies, leaks and maybe a bit of luck.”

Seeing them in person and hearing Brisson explain how they work really brought Turing’s story to life. The Enigma is an incredibly sophisticated machine with layers and layers of complexity. Brisson explains that if you aren’t familiar with their history and significance then maybe all you will see is a complicated German-made machine but “when you really look at it there’s a symbol of what the Allies had to do to break that machine, it’s very double-edged.”

Breaking the Code shows us who Turing was outside of his code breaking work at Bletchley, his early love of mathematics and science, his work on the first computer, and the influence of various people on his life and work. The script does a great job in conveying the tragedy and the injustice he suffered. In 1952 Turing was convicted of gross indecency for having homosexual relations and was sentenced to chemical castration. He died a few years later, in an apparent suicide.

The cast and crew certainly pulled off something quite different from the movie. While The Imitation Game focused almost exclusively on Turing’s work on Enigma, tiptoed around his homosexuality and played up his trouble relating to others, Breaking the Code presents a more complex and nuanced portrait of Turing, with more emphasis on his homosexuality and the persecution he suffered for breaking the other code, the social code barring homosexuality at the time.

Shaun Toohey delivers an inspired performance as Alan Turing, embodying the character down to his stutter and nervous habit of chewing his nails with a natural ease. Toohey impressively maintains character even with his huge number of lines and the show’s long running time.

Turing’s monologue at the start of the second half was a real highlight. In the scene he is visiting his old school and explains his vision for the computer, a machine that can think and learn like a human being, and maybe even have a sense of humour. It was fascinating to hear that even back in the late forties/early fifties, Turing was raising some of the same questions we collectively ponder to this day as seen in films like Her and Stephen Hawking’s words of warning about the threat posed by artificial intelligence.

While Toohey’s touching performance is a pleasure, there were some points where the production falls short. I didn’t expect the sensationalism of the movie but Turing’s life as a homosexual when it was illegal and the need to keep his wartime code breaking secret provide some juicy material for a sense of urgency and danger that were sorely missing. There were also some crucial dramatic moments and key lines that fell flat and could perhaps have been bolstered with something like musical underscoring. Additionally, while more dynamic than linear timelines, the challenge of bouncing across time periods between scenes was not met and it was often difficult to situate ourselves in time and space.

Flaws aside Breaking the Code offers a remarkable glimpse into one of the most important minds of the 20th century and on a few nights the chance to learn about the secret world of code making and breaking.

Breaking the Code runs at the Ottawa Little Theatre (400 King Edward Ave) until May 23, 2015. For more information and tickets, click here. The Talkbacks with Richard Brisson and his Enigma machine follow the shows on May 19 and 20, 2015.

]]>http://apt613.ca/breaking-the-code-a-look-into-life-of-alan-turing-chance-to-see-enigma-machine-up-close/feed/0The Walrus Talks about being humanhttp://apt613.ca/the-walrus-talks-about-being-human/
http://apt613.ca/the-walrus-talks-about-being-human/#commentsTue, 28 Apr 2015 19:42:40 +0000Lily Pepperhttp://apt613.ca/?p=82372The magazine The Walrus, which presents commentary on Canadian culture and its place in the world, is bringing the latest installment of its Walrus Talks events to Ottawa this week.

At the National Gallery this Wednesday evening, eight speakers, including Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes, will speak for seven minutes each on various topics related to the evening’s (admittedly broad) theme, Being Human. Past Walrus Talks have tackled themes including Energy, Play, and The Art of Conversation.

The series challenges audiences to look at a topic from a myriad of diverse points of view. The format is a challenge for speakers, as well. Zeynep Arsel, a Concordia professor who will be speaking on Wednesday about consumption and markets as aspects of the human condition, commented that “the challenge was to find a story that I could fit in a seven minute talk and and keep it relevant, interesting and not get overly academic”. The Walrus has described the series’ goal as “for audience members to think “I never thought about it that way” when the Talks are over”.

Other speakers at Wednesday’s event include Mercédes Benegbi, a Canadian survivor of the thalidomide tragedy and executive director of the Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada, and Steven Mann, who has been described as the father of wearable computing and self-identifies as a cyborg.

The Walrus Talks events have drawn both praise and criticism since the series began. Some have praised the events’ lively and thought-provoking mixture of perspectives, while others have expressed concern that the corporate sponsors of the Talks, such as Labatt for the “Water” talk and Suncor, for the “Energy” talk, could affect the freedom and direction of the conversation.

The Walrus Talks series has proved to be an important aspect of The Walrus magazine’s continued survival in an age that has proved punishing for print publications. In a 2013 Globe and Mail article, Shelley Ambrose, co-publisher of The Walrus and executive director of The Walrus Foundation, commented that in that year, events such as The Walrus Talks generated about $1.3 million in revenue, with the annual budget of the foundation then being approximately $4.8 million.

The Walrus Talks: Being Human will take place at the National Gallery of Canada (380 Sussex Drive), Wednesday, April 29th, 2015, at 7pm. Tickets for the event are $20, or $30 with a years’ subscription to The Walrus, and are available through Eventbrite. At time of writing, the event is close to being sold out, but will also be live-streamed at thewalrus.ca/live.